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Description
Mark Schwartz, Arlington County Manager, speaking to the Arlington Civic Federation on April 14, 2016.
A
A
B
First
of
all,
I
want
to
welcome
congressman
buyer
Colonel,
Henderson
everyone
and
current
board
members,
former
board
members
and
everybody
in
the
audience
I'm
thrilled
to
be
here,
and
several
of
you
pointed
out
when
you're
making
predictions
about.
What's
going
to
happen,
100
years
from
now,
there's
no
way
that
you
can
be
proven
wrong.
B
So
how
can
I
be
so
confident
there
are
forces
much
bigger
than
what
are
going
on
in
arlington
that
shaped
the
contours
of
our
future,
the
environment.
I'm
surprised,
no
one
said
that
we
will,
I
guess,
we'll
be
underwater
and
overheated
RNA,
our
nation.
I
was
going
to
say
debt
or
solvent,
but
we're
dead
now,
and
I
think
it's
likely
we'll
still
be
in
debt.
Then
Commonwealth
of
Virginia
growing
adopting
more
progressive
values,
possibly
our
technology.
B
You've
heard
a
lot
about
that,
so
the
choices
that
confront
the
county
board
and
we
just
went
through
a
sort
of
marathon
conversation
about
what
would
make
up
our
2017
budget
I
think
those
will
be
in
some
ways
the
same
choices
we
face
in
a
hundred
years.
How
much
for
education?
How
much
for
housing?
How
much
and
how
much
will
we
need
to
keep
ourselves
safe?
B
We
may
not
be
debating
about
school
buildings.
We
may
be
talking
about
virtual
environments,
for
our
kids
to
learn
in
we're,
certainly
still
going
to
need
houses
for
our
residents.
I
have
no
idea
what
kind
of
houses
and
there's
probably
going
to
be
some
architectural
breakthrough
or
some
concept
we
recently
heard
about
micro-units,
maybe
they'll
be
mini
micro,
tiny
teeny
units.
B
We
have
transportation
solutions
that
we've
heard
about
so
again
with
all
that.
Why
am
I
confident
and
really
for
me?
It
doesn't
come
down
to
technology.
It
doesn't
really
come
down
to
the
wonderful
vistas
we
have
of
our
nation's
capital.
It
comes
down
to
the
people.
We've
heard
a
lot
of
talk
about
technology,
but
I
want
to
talk
about
the
people,
a
very
special
kind
of
people,
not
just
people
who
need
people
but
I'm
not
doing
the
whole
song
for
you,
but
instead
people
who
work
with
each
other
and
work
hard
to
help
others.
B
B
Now
this
may
surprise
some
of
you
but
I'm,
going
to
quote
David
Brooks,
who
is
a
columnist
for
The
New,
York
Times,
and
he
wrote
an
article
on
april
fifth
entitled
how
covenants
make
us
and
these
I
want
to
read
some
of
his
words
to
you
all
these
forces
and
those
are
the
forces
I
just
mentioned
about
technology
and
the
scale
of
global
economies
and
personal
dignity.
All
of
these
forces
have
liberated
the
individual,
or
at
least
well
in
dell
educated
individuals,
but
they
have
been
bad
for
national
cohesion
and
social
fabric
income.
B
Inequality
challenges,
economic
cohesion
as
the
classes
divide,
demographic
diversity,
challenges,
cultural
cohesion,
as
different
ethnic
groups
rub
against
one
another.
The
emphasis
on
individual
choice,
challenges,
community
cohesion
and
settled
social
bonds.
Now
the
weakening
the
he-goat
continues,
the
weakening
of
the
social
fabric
has
created
a
range
of
problems.
B
Alienated
young
men
join
Isis,
so
they
can
have
a
sense
of
belonging.
Isolated
teenagers
shoot
up
schools.
Many
people
grew
up
in
fragmented
disorganized,
neighborhoods
political
polarization
grows
because
people
often
don't
interact
with
those
on
the
other
side.
Racial
animosity
stubbornly
persists.
So
after
reading
this
and
hearing
that
I
had
to
pause,
because
each
of
the
trends
that
David
Brooks
had
talked
about
to
a
degree
have
unglued
the
bonds
of
society
in
the
world,
but
as
I
thought
about
it,
each
of
those
trends
has
done
the
exact
opposite
here
in
Arlington.
Think
about
it.
B
We
are
a
place
that
epitomizes
diversity
we're
a
place
where
individual
choice
and
dignity
have
grown
and
not
led
to
a
greater
sense
of
alienation
but
a
greater
sense
of
inclusiveness.
We
have
great
neighborhoods
where
people
who
are
very
different
from
each
other
interact
all
the
time.
It
doesn't
mean
we
don't
have
troubles
the
income
inequality
we
see
in
our
country
is
still
here
in
our
community,
but
we're
community
through
its
people
that
are
committed
through
our
spirit
and
what
I've
seen
here
in
the
last
31
years.
B
That
I've
lived
is
that
as
technology
grows
and
as
all
the
new
trends
come
about,
it
has
aided
our
diversity,
its
increase,
the
diversity
of
our
neighborhoods.
It's
increased
our
Civic
spirit
and
made
it
more
resilient.
So
I
have
no
reason
to
think
that,
100
years
from
now,
we
won't
be
that
much
more
resilient
than
we
are
today.
We
take
strength
from
our
differences,
those
differences
that
David
Brooks
talked
about
our
strengths.
For
us
we
admit
that
we
have
challenges,
we
don't
talk
about
building
walls.
B
We
talk
about
the
walls
of
buildings,
I,
like
that
line.
I
just
spent
a
lot
of
time
on
that.
Want
me
to
say
it
again:
I
will
we
don't
talk
about
ignoring
those
less
fortunate,
which
is
what
we're
hearing
a
lot
on
the
national
scene?
We
talked
about
how
to
help
those
less
fortunate.
We
may
have
a
difference
of
opinion.
Should
it
be
a
hip
or
housing,
grants
should
be
housing
grants
or
a
if
these
are.
These
are
debates
that
I
welcome
all
the
time
we
certainly
can
do
better,
but
we're
in
a
good
place.
B
We
learn
from
each
other.
We
have
a
civic
life
rich
and
engagement.
We
have
a
generous
spirit.
As
a
community
now,
David
Brooks
went
on
to
note
in
his
column
that
these
days
the
social
fabric
will
be
repaired.
This
is
how
his
recipe
rule
would
be
repaired
by
hundreds
of
millions
of
people
making
local
covenants
widening
their
circles
of
attachment
across
income,
social
and
racial
divides,
but
it
will
probably
also
require
leaders
drawing
upon
american
history
to
revive
patriotism.
B
They'll
tell
a
story
that
includes
the
old
themes
that
were
a
universal
nation,
the
guarantor
of
stability
and
world
order,
but
it
will
transcend
the
old
narrative
and
offer
an
updated
love
of
America.
I
think
one
place
they
could
look
is
Arlington
County,
so
our
secret
sauce
is
really
no
secret
at
all.
It's
our
constant
devotion
to
our
community
and
it's
our
people,
the
civic
culture
we
have
so.
In
conclusion,
let
me
note
another
great
person
of
our
times:
Groucho
Marx.
B
B
The
future
does
one
incredible
thing:
it
holds
up
promise
for
us
I
promise
that
what
we
have
today
is
valuable
and
we
want
others
to
share
in
it
a
future
filled
with
hope
that
will
nurture
our
days
while
we're
all
alive
as
members
of
this
community
each
and
every
day,
and
that
is
the
reason
why
I'm
confident
about
our
future
and
thank
you
for
inviting
me
to
speak
tonight.
Thank
you.